Step 5: Project!

Step 6: Final Thoughts

When I first checked the weather report for this Sunday, I thought I was in for another astronomical event spoiled by the Oregon weather. However, a...

Viewing an eclipse or other solar event is great fun, and an excellent way to involve kids in learning about science. I'm writing this on the evening of May 20, 2012, just after a great annular (ring) solar eclipse, and in anticipation of of the June 5/6 transit of Venus. My daughter and I watched the eclipse, and we're planning on watching the transit in a couple of weeks. Don't let yourself or your kids miss that Venus transit, there won't be another one for 105 years!

If you live in North America like me, you're going to have to wait awhile for the next eclipse--we won't see one until 2017. There are several around the world between now and then though, click here for a list of solar eclipses up to 2020.

Besides eclipses and transits, we are currently headed into a solar maximum, a time of greater sunspot activity. Using this method, you can view the sunspots as the move and change across the face of the sun.

This is great! Thanks for posting it. I rigged one up myself with an old piece of foam board that has some aluminum foil on one side. Would you recommend taking this off or leaving it on? I assume it would cut down on some glare, but I have no idea. Also, do you need eye protection when looking at the projected image?

Hi CynicalUnicorn, sorry I missed this until just now! I'm not sure about the foil, I think it'll be fine. As long as you're not looking into the binocs you don't need eye protection (at least, not as far as I know!

Nice work! I had something like this set up as well last night. We were able to view about 95% of the full ring from where i live. If we'd have driven about two hours south we could have seen the full, symmetrical ring. Anyhow, it was still awesome and my kids got a kick out it. I don't know anything about this Venus Transit you speak of, so i'm going to have to look into it. Thanks for the heads up!